Hello there! Welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Barnsley.

Great to see you today.

So, in today's lesson, we are gonna be exploring a new poem in the AQA World and Lives anthology, and that is the poem "England in 1819" by Shelley.

So you are gonna need your copy of the anthology at the ready.

So if you need to, pause the video, go and get it, 'cause you are gonna want to see a version of the poem.

All right, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's go.

So, today's outcome, by the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how Shelley presents powerful institutions.

Now, there are four keywords in today's lesson.

These gonna be really useful for us to understand really what it is that Shelley is talking about in his poetry.

So these words are institution, monarchy, critical, and Romanticism.

So let's have a look at what each of these words mean then, shall we? So institution is an established organisation or corporation, such as a bank, a university, and it's often something that's used by the public.

The monarchy is a system of having a king or a queen.

And we might actually say that the monarchy is an institution, it's an organisation.

Now, the word critical is an adjective or it can be, it comes from the verb to criticise, and it can mean to express adverse or disapproving comments or judgments.

So you might already be starting to think about what Shelley's poem could be about just from these three words.

Now, Romanticism you may notice is being capitalised, and that's because it's the name of a poetry movement that spanned the late 18th and early 19th century, and it was a poetry move that really focused on emotions and nature.

Okay, so, there are four keywords.

Look out for them in today's lesson, use them in your own analysis.

Right, let's dive into the lesson itself.

All right, so we are gonna be reading and understanding the poem "England in 1819." And there are three learning cycles in today's lesson.

We're gonna be making inferences, we're gonna be reading the poem, and we are gonna be understanding the context of the poem.

So let's start by making some inferences, shall we? So, Shelley, born in 1792, is considered one of the greatest English poets.

And Shelley was a Romantic poet.

Remember that keyword, Romanticism? A poetry movement, one that focused on nature amongst other things.

So, I want you to think about if you know already any conventions of Romanticism.

So, we've talked about nature, but is there anything else that you know about Romanticism? What generally did they think, how did they feel? Can you make any predictions using the keywords that I shared with you at the beginning of the lesson? All right, over to you.

Let's do this as a discussion.

If you have a partner, you can talk with them.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can just think through this question independently and press play on the video when you are ready to find out some responses.

All right, pause the video and give this a go.

Some really nice ideas then.

I could see people maybe pulling ideas from poetry that they might have looked at when they were young, lower down school.

Fantastic if you were doing that, using other references that you might have.

Alright, I want to shine a spotlight on some of the great things that might've been said then.

So, we know that the work of Romantic writers adhere to some of the following conventions.

So firstly, as we already mentioned when we looked at it as a keyword, this awe of nature, how nature is just incredible.

There's also a rejection of powerful institutions, okay? And you might have been able to predict that when you looked at some of the keywords at the beginning of today's lesson.

Remember institutions, those organisations, those corporations, usually used by the public.

Critique come from the word critical, and it's a critique of progress.

So, I'm not saying that Romantics didn't like any progress, but would be very critical, wary of progress.

And that's because they had a real fascination with the past, okay? And a lot of their poetry then really emphasised emotion.

And, you know, I think we can maybe think about that fascination with the past, emphasis on emotion, maybe we might see some nostalgia in Romantic poems, potentially? Well done if you managed to remember any of these things on the screen.

That is fantastic.

All right, let's check how we're getting on then, shall we? Which of the following is a convention of Romanticism? Is it A, the emphasis on logic? Is it B, the celebration of powerful institutions? Or is it C, the critique of powerful institutions? Pause video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, great job if you said C.

We should expect the poetry of the Romantics to be quite critical of powerful institutions.

Let's keep an eye out for that and see if we see it in any of Shelley's work.

Okay, over to your first task then.

I'm gonna share with you, before we look at the poem together, I'm gonna share with you some quotations from "England in 1819." They are "Princes," "public scorn," "Christless," "people starved," and "worst statute." And a statute is a written law that might have been passed by a government.

So I'm gonna tell you that all of these five words or phrases come from the poem.

What I want you to do is do some predicting here, make some inferences.

Which Romantic conventions then do you think Shelley is adhering to based on these quotations, and why? So think of that list of what we said, what we might expect from the poetry of the Romantics.

Which of those conventions or conventional conventions do you expect to see Shelley adhere to based on these quotations? Now, this was a perfect task to do as a discussion.

So if you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

But do not worry if you're working by yourself.

You can either think through this or even make a few notes, write something down if you wish to.

All right, I'm gonna send this over to you now.

So pause the video, give this a go, and press play when you are ready to move on.

All right, welcome back, really nice work there, some interesting discussions, and well done if you are working independently as well.

All right, what I'd like to do then is I'm gonna share one of the Oak pupil's ideas.

So Jacob was doing the same discussion as you, and I want you to compare your response to his.

See if you agree with Jacob or do you disagree? So Jacob thought: These quotations seem to reference the monarchy through "Princes," religion through "Christless," and parliament through "worst statute." The addition of the superlative "worst" as well as the words such as "scorn" and "starved" implies that Shelley will be criticising these institutions because they suggest that the people not only have a negative perception of these institutions but that these institutions are negatively impacting on their lives.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with Jacob, or do you disagree? Why don't you pause the video and have a think, have a reflect on what you said.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Some really interesting reflections there.

I don't know about you, but I felt that this convention, the critique of powerful institutions, really stood out to me when I looked at those five words and phrases, so I think I would've agreed with Jacob there.

All right, let's move on.

All right, now we are gonna start reading the poem "England in 1819." So you are gonna need your copy of the AQA World and Lives poetry anthology.

If it is not in front of you yet, please pause the video and go and get your copy now.

Okay, so we're gonna read the poem together.

I am gonna read and I want every single person to follow along.

In fact, I'm even gonna turn the camera off so you can concentrate following along on the text alone.

All right.

Anthologies open, let's read.

"England in 1819." "An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying King.

Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring.

Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know, but leechlike to their fainting country cling till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow.

A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field.

An army, whom liberticide and prey makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield.

Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay.

Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed.

A senate, time's worst statute, unrepealed, are grave from which a glorious phantom may burst, to illumine our tempestuous day." Okay, excellent following along there.

What I'd like you to do is now discuss this question you can see on the screen.

"The speaker describes what England is like in 1819.

But how would you summarise their description?" Okay, pause video, have a think about this question, and then press play when you are ready to continue.

Over to you.

I heard some really interesting discussions there and particularly people talking about actually this was really quite bleak and distressing.

I really wanna shine a light, and well done if you said something similar to this, what you can see on the screen.

So the situation is described as being bleak, almost hopeless, since the people are starved.

But yet we see the monarchy at the beginning of the poem, the Church in the middle of the poem, and the Parliament at the end of the poem, they're all portrayed as being uncaring and actually ineffective at supporting the people of this nation.

So we're now gonna take a closer look at the poem, and we're gonna consider this question.

How does Shelley present institutions in "England in 1819"? So, institutions, we're gonna think about the monarchy, the church, and the government.

So we know the monarchy are dismissed as people "who neither see nor feel nor know." What do you think this tells us about Shelley's feelings towards the monarchy? Why don't you pause the video, think about this question, and then press play when you're ready to continue? Yeah, well done.

I could hear lots of people talking about how critical Shelley is being of the monarchy.

Well done if you said something similar to this.

It also suggests that the monarchy is unaware of the suffering, kind of they don't see it, they don't feel it.

The phrase "nor know" could refer to their ignorance of the situation, and it could even perhaps suggest that they could never truly understand the plight of the ordinary people since they are so far removed from their situation, they're so far removed from the poverty that many people in England in 1819 will have faced.

Well done if you said something similar to what we can see on the screen.

So let's double check then.

Shelley accuses the monarchy of what? Is it, A, ignorance, B, violence, or, C, corruption? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to find out the answer.

Yes, that is of course A.

It feels like the monarchy are really ignorant.

They do not know and understand the suffering of the people of England.

So, Shelley also refers to the Church as "Christless," "Godless," and "a book sealed." Let's have a think then.

What do you think Shelley is implying through this description? All right, if you've got a partner, why don't you discuss this with them? Or think through this independently if you are working by yourself.

But pause the video, give this question a bit of thinking time, and then press play when you are ready to share or hear some responses.

All right, over to you.

Some really, really interesting ideas there.

And, again, I heard lots of you saying that Shelley is being very, very critical.

I want to just kind of share this response 'cause I really like this and I heard some of you saying something very similar.

So by calling the Church "Christless" and "Godless," it could imply that the Church has completely lost its way.

It's no longer focused on being charitable and helping people, what people would expect a church to do.

Words that end with less suggest a real emptiness at the heart of the Church.

And I think this is further emphasised by the notion of it being "sealed" as it suggests it's inaccessible, unavailable to people.

If something's sealed, it's like locked shut.

It's almost like people can't access the words of the Bible.

And actually, what's really interesting, they call the Bible just a book.

They relegate it to just being any book, or Shelley relegates it just being any book.

And that might really emphasise that actually, now the Bible is nothing more than paper.

If you don't use it for its purpose, if it's lost all of its meaning, then it is just paper.

Some really, really interesting inferences you could make from this line, and well done if you said something similar to what you can see on the screen.

All right, true or false? Shelley compares the Church to a "book sealed." What do you think? Pause the video, have a think, press play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, that is of course true.

Now let's justify that.

Does this, A, imply that religion and charity are now inaccessible to people? Or does it, B, imply that there is corruption at the heart of the Church? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to find out the answer.

Yeah, really well done if you said A.

Maybe Shelley could be saying that the heart of the Church has been corrupted.

But I don't think we can necessarily infer that.

That might be what Shelley thinks, but I think this more clearly just says that, look, the Church/religion has lost its way.

It is not as accessible to people as it once was.

Well done if you got the answers correct on that question.

Okay, finally, we know that Shelley also criticises Parliament.

He refers to it as passing "golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay." Now, there's a juxtaposition here between the optimism associated with "golden," if we think of gold, you know, we might think of treasures, so it feels very optimistic, and the violence of "slay." And actually, this word "sanguine" is really interesting because it has two meanings.

It can mean something optimistic, but it can also mean, if we use it as a colour, it's a blood-red colour.

So there's some real juxtaposition, some real contrast here in Shelley's vocabulary choices.

What I want you to think about is what Shelley's message might be through using this juxtaposition of optimism and violence.

All right, pause the video, have a think, discuss with a partner if you want or work through this independently.

Have a think at what is Shelley's message.

All right, pause the video, over to you, press play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, really well done.

Some great ideas there.

Well done if you said something similar to this.

"Potentially, Shelley could either be pointing to the lawmaker's ignorance since they feel optimistic about laws that are actually making things worse.

However, more than one interpretation here, Shelley could also arguably suggesting that the lawmakers are purposefully passing laws that will benefit them regardless of the hurt and pain they may cause to ordinary people." So, kind of two, both equally damning criticisms here.

One, that the lawmakers are ignorant and don't realise how bad the laws they are passing, or perhaps even worse, that they are deliberately passing laws that are meant to hurt the ordinary people because they benefit the ruling classes, they benefit those powerful institutions.

Well done if you said anything like that on the screen.

And of course you might have a different interpretation as well, and that is fantastic too.

They are valid as long as they can be thoroughly justified.

All right, let's double check then.

Shelley arguably criticises parliament for being what? Is it, A, uncharitable, B, self-serving, or C, lazy? What do you think? Give this a go and press play.

Pausing the video and press play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, well done if you said B, self-serving.

There is definitely one interpretation that we could say that actually government are passing laws that benefit themselves at the expense of others, which makes them selfish or self-serving.

All right, over to our second task then.

Throughout the poem, we know that Shelley criticises and rejects powerful institutions such as the monarchy, the Church, and Parliament.

I want you to think though, which institution do you feel Shelley is the most critical of? All right, no right answer here, this is your own interpretation, but I want you to write a short answer and explain your reasoning.

All right, pause the video, give this a go.

You might want to use quotations from the text to support you.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Good luck, over to you.

Really well done there.

Some great writing, and it was nice to see some of you kind of stop to think before but did not just dive straight into the writing, start to do some evaluating about what your opinion was.

All right, Jacob has given this task a go and we're gonna look at his response.

I'm gonna compare it to what we wrote.

So Jacob said he thinks that Shelley is most critical of the Church because, arguably, Shelley could be accusing the monarchy and Parliament of ignorance, okay, not knowing any better, whilst calling the Church "Christless" and "Godless" may be accusing them of abandoning the people and becoming inaccessible to them.

They're abandoning the people that they are meant to help.

Furthermore, it implies an emptiness at the heart of the Church, which is further compounded by the reference to the Bible as a "book," which shows that there is now no purpose behind the Church's existence.

All right, that's one for you to think about.

Pause the video.

Do you agree with Jacob? Do you disagree with Jacob? Compare his response to yours.

All right, over to you, press play when you're ready to continue.

Right, welcome back.

It's time for our third learning cycle now, and we're gonna spend a bit of time understanding the context behind the poem.

So Shelley specifically draws our attention to 1819 through the title of the poem.

Now, in 1819, there was widespread public dissatisfaction due to high unemployment and high food prices.

People were not happy with the institutions who were supposed to be looking out for them, keeping them safe.

This led to several political demonstrations, might think of them as protests today.

One of which was held in St.

Peter's Fields in Manchester, in the north of England.

Given the tone of Shelley's poem then, do you think the demonstration in Manchester was successful? Did these protests, does this demonstration get what the people wanted from the institutions or not? What do you think? If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them, or you can just think through this independently.

All right, pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Yeah, some interesting discussions there, and I hear lots of you saying something very similar to what I can see on the screen, which was the very violent and bleak tone of the poem implies that actually this was not successful.

This demonstration didn't get what the people wanted.

So the demonstration in Manchester was intended as a demonstration of discontent, and it was aimed to reform, to try and change and improve parliament.

Its intentions were actually peaceful and many of the attendees were women and children.

However, officials ordered cavalry to arrest the speakers.

But they actually went further than this, and it commenced a general attack on the crowd.

Now, the number of casualties has been disputed, it's very difficult to agree how many people were actually injured, but it's likely around 500 people who were injured and 11 who were killed.

This demonstration became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

So let's check if we understand then.

So the Peterloo Massacre was violence committed against who? Was it committed against soldiers, citizens, or officials? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Yes, well done.

It was A, a massacre of violence committed against the citizens by the institutions who were supposed to be protecting them.

All right, over to our final task of today's lesson.

I want you to consider the context of the Peterloo Massacre, and I want you to think about how you think it links to the themes within Shelley's "England in 1819." Some things for you to consider.

What happened in the Peterloo Massacre? What do you think Shelley's poem implies about institutions? And what do you think Shelley's intentions were? Okay, pause the video, over to you to do some writing, and press play when you're ready to continue.

All right, good luck with this.

I know you can do it.

Over to you.

Great work there.

I was really, really impressed with how you were linking the context to words and phrases from the poem, that was great to see.

Also, bonus points to all of you who checked your spelling and punctuation and grammar before you put your pen down.

I really love it.

I really love it when I see that happening.

All right, before we finish today's lesson, let's have a moment of reflection.

Let's think about what we've just written and compare that to the work of one of our Oak pupils.

So Sam wrote a response and she said this.

"I think Shelley's overall intentions were to critique powerful institutions for allowing, either through ignorance or corruption, the suffering of ordinary people.

The Peterloo Massacre exemplifies this because it shows those in a position of power violently abusing those who chose to protest for political and social reform, for change.

It suggests that those in power will ultimately try to maintain their power rather than use it to help others." All right, why don't you pause the video for a moment, compare your response to Sam's, and think.

Do you agree with her response, or do you disagree? All right, pause the video and have a bit of a moment of reflection.

Right, that's it, well done! You've worked really, really hard in today's lesson.

It's been really, I've being really pleased to learn alongside you today.

On the screen you can see a summary of what we've covered.

Let's quickly go through that together because I want you to leave today's lesson feeling really, really confident before you move on to the next lesson.

So we've learned that "England in 1819" is arguably a criticism of powerful institutions who are blind to the suffering of ordinary folk.

Arguably, Shelley criticises the monarchy, the Church, and parliament for not acting in people's best interests.

Now, this could be linked to the Peterloo Massacre, which happened in England in 1819, and we know the Peterloo Massacre happened at a protest demanding the reform, the change, of parliamentary representation.

All right, thank you so much for joining me today.

I hope you have a great day with the rest of your day, however you choose to spend it, and I hope to see you all in one of our lessons soon.

Thank you very much.

Goodbye.